Ap World History Dbq Essay

Words: 431
Pages: 2

The United States has an infamous history of restricting civil liberties, especially in crisis. During World War II, the US declared a national internment of all citizens of Japanese descent. The Japanese Americans would retaliate against the Civil Liberties Act to demand reform for this infraction on their rights. Most of these efforts would show change, however racial discrimination would continue to persist across America. The historical circumstances begin at Pearl Harbor which resulted in the confinement of Japanese-Americans, stemming from the fear of sabotage or infiltration. The Japanese planned a swift, sly attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii for December 7th, 1931 in an attempt to paralyze the U.S. naval fleet; the attack concluded …show more content…
Roosevelt responded to this massacre with Executive Order 9066, giving his army the authority to detain and imprison any citizen of Japanese descent, regardless if they were born and raised in America, “more than 70 percent of them, were American citizens, born in the United States” (Doc 1). This is a violation of their civil liberties under the 5th Amendment. No individual shall be held responsible for a crime without due process (O/I). All of these citizens would not be charged nor trialed for crimes against the United States, yet they were held in unsuitable concentration camps because the American government feared disloyalty. Efforts taken to end this unrightful captivity comprised of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations (NCRR), and the Washington Coalition for Redress/Reparations (WCRR). Joining together to demand compensation on behalf of the suffering of the Japanese-Americans during World War II, “younger Japanese Americans inspired by 1960s social movements began to press for a true reckoning for their wartime experiences and, eventually, for reparations for their incarceration” (Doc 3a). These three organizations worked to protect and conserve Japanese American heritage. They sought “substantial monetary compensation”, and, “direct individual payments to evacuees and their heirs” (Doc